Pawnee Christmas
by emkunard98
Summary: Ben and Leslie's first married Christmas! Slight spoilers for season 6.


For Leslie Knope, Christmas wasn't just one day. She started celebrations in late November, right after Thanksgiving. This year, the tree was put up by November 27th and "Holly Jolly Christmas" could be heard coming from the Knope-Wyatt home even earlier than that. Ben thought it was ridiculous, but knew it was pointless to argue with her.  
Leslie was more excited for this Christmas than she had been any year ever before. This was the year she had finally gotten to marry Benjamin Wyatt, and his butt was all hers for the whole year and the rest of their lives. She wanted their first Christmas to be extra special, so she had invited Chris and Ann to come down from Ann Arbor to join them. She was so excited to have Ann back, and knew Ben was equally excited to see Chris again. Andy and April had also invited themselves over because they "didn't have any clean dishes". Now she just had to make everything perfect. Their stockings were hung on the mantle, and she slipped their box into Ben's before he could notice. Now all she had to do was not sleep for the next 36 hours and it would really be perfect, because she knew if she slept at all she would ruin the surprise for sure.

Ann and Chris arrived the next evening. Leslie knew that, even at seven months pregnant, her best friend wouldn't turn down a trip to Pawnee to see her for anything. They arrived just as Ben was putting the finishing touches on their Christmas meal. It looked so good and suddenly she was ravenously hungry. Leslie greeted her best friend at the door with a hug and a "you look beautiful". All six of them sat down to eat.  
"This has *literally* been the *best* Christmas Eve," Chris said enthusiastically at the end of the meal.  
"It feels good to be back in Pawnee, even if just for a few days," Ann added.  
"We'll talk about that later. Is everyone ready for presents?" Leslie asked.

They all convened to the living room where Leslie had set up the gifts and by what they could tell, she had really outdone herself. Everyone was ridiculously happy, except April but it was obvious that she was trying to hide her excitement about her present, which was a personalized scrapbook about the year she had as the director of the Animal Control department. Everyone had opened their presents except for Ben, who was very puzzled at Leslie's forgetfulness concerning his gift. His wife saw his confused expression and pointed to the mantle where his stocking was hung. (Stockings, what a ridiculous tradition. Oh, the things he had done for love.) She watched as he took it down from its hook and brought it back the group. Very carefully, he dumped out the contents of the stocking. When he saw the box, she saw a little smile escape his lips.

"Leslie...what is this?" he asked nervously, not knowing what he wanted her to say.  
"Just open it," she told him. He did what she told him to and there, in the box that had stood for so much for the two of them, was a plastic stick and a photograph. He just sat there and stared at it for a minute while she watched him, waiting very impatiently.  
"Well?"  
"Oh my God, Leslie, are you serious?" he asked her with tears in his eyes and a big smile on his face.  
"Absotutely I am...very sorry I just used that word!"  
He laughed. She knew how to make him smile. He kissed her. Man, she loved him.  
"What is it? You two need to stop being gross," April shoved herself in between Ben and Leslie before the situation could get worse. She ripped the box out of Ben's hand and Andy, seeing the contents, freaked out.  
"WHAT IS THAT?!" Andy yelled loud enough to startle Ann and Chris, and that the house almost starts shaking.  
"See for yourself," Leslie tells them.  
Andy finally calmed down, after he realized that Leslie had not, as he had first thought, given Ben a mini-lightsaber. (What a letdown). He recognized what it was-thanks to his latest Bert Macklin case-and ran over to Leslie and Ben and hugged them as tight as he could.  
"Give that to me," Ann said in her best "mom" voice. (She was going to have to practice that.) She took one look inside the box and burst into tears. She is so happy for her best friend and loves her and Ben so much. She also can't believe that Leslie kept the secret so long! If there was one thing she knew about her friend, it was that she was an eight-texts-in-a-minute-when-freaked-out kind of girl.  
"The joy that I am feeling right now is profound, and unmatched in the modern era. This IS *literally* the best Christmas ever," Chris said with a smile.  
Leslie looked around at the five people sitting in her living room, the five people she loved most in the world, and knew that no matter what happened, this one would always be her favorite Christmas. Their first one as a family of three and the first annual Knope-Wyatt Christmas Extravaganza. She couldn't wait for tomorrow.

* * *

**A/N: This was a lot of fun for me to write. It was inspired by an idea for the next use of the box. I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review! Merry Christmas everyone!**


End file.
